India rape case accused plead not guilty

Date: February 02 2013

The five men accused in the gang-rape and killing of a 23-year-old Indian student in New Delhi pleaded not guilty after they were formally charged in court, paving the way for their trial to begin next week.

Judge Yogesh Khanna who heads a fast-track court in Delhi's southern area of Saket on Saturday read 13 charges including murder, gang-rape, abduction, destroying evidence and criminal conspiracy in the closed hearing.

"The judge read out the charges and all five accused have pleaded not guilty," A.P. Singh, a lawyer for two of the accused, told reporters outside the court.

"They [the accused] submitted to the judge that they were innocent and all allegations by the police are false and fabricated. They walked out of the court soon after," Singh said.

The trial process will begin on February 5 with the recording of evidence.

The five accused are Ram Singh, a bus driver, and his brother Mukesh, Pawan Gupta, a fruit seller, Vinay Sharma, a gym instructor, and Akshay Thakur, a bus cleaner.

If convicted, the men could face the death penalty.

A sixth suspect, 17, is to be tried in a juvenile court.

He could face a maximum sentence of three years at a correction home.

The student was beaten with a metal bar and raped on a moving bus in the Indian capital on December 16.

She died of severe injuries in a hospital in Singapore two weeks later.

The crime shocked the country and sparked unprecedented protests that put pressure on the government to improve safety for women in India.